April 25, 2018

A number of Minnesotans headed to the world's largest ACBL regional last week - had a wonderful time and performed admirably! Our first tale is shared by Kim Hayward - and - it appeared in the Gatlinburg Daily Bulletin! These 24 club members above brought home 374.26 masterpoints!

Twenty-four members of the Bridge Center of St Paul in Minnesota decided Gatlinburg would be a good idea this year.

Our Annual Unit Awards banquet and game was scheduled for two days before the beginning of the Regional, so many of us were leaving immediately after the game or flying the next day. Unfortunately, something else was scheduled at the same time—piles and piles of snow and ice.

Our Unit cancelled the banquet mid-week and some decided to leave early to beat the storm. As our Friday morning game closed and the radar was becoming more colorful by the minute, we decided to grab our clothes and run for it. Others did the same.

Despite leaving early the 5 carloads of players had very slow and treacherous travel. But the air travelers fared much worse! Cancellations and changes mounted and the last of the group made it late on Monday evening with one pair of players being re-routed 3 times! (The storm yielded 14.9 inches in one day, an April record.)

Now that were all here, we’re having a great time at your wonderful tournament. Please visit us if you are ever in the Twin Cities. You will be sure to receive a warm welcome whatever the weather.

In addition, a contingent of three current Minnesotans, Kerry Holloway, Michael Lee Howland and Harry Sapienza joined with former Gopher State Joe Rice and Craig Satersmoen to do battle. Their team had a fine showing; first in Thursday's Bracket 2 KO for almost 44 masterpoints - then second in Saturday's Bracket 3 Swiss and 4th in Sunday's Bracket 4 Swiss. VWD, guys!

Your webmaster has never made it to magical Gatlinburg - but - these stories of success and fun sure make me want to do it one day!

April 15, 2018

Our District 14 Director, Sharon Anderson, had the honor of sending congratulations to our newest Platinum Life Master, Paul Meerschaert. This is indeed a rare achievement. Only 776 ACBL members have 10,000 masterpoints or more. This comes to a mere .47% of the entire membership.

We join Sharon in applauding Paul for this significant accomplishment. And we thank him, too, for his response about this new honor. Bridge is a partnership game - and - those of us who are fortunate to play with Paul understand that he is a partner that others cherish!

Thanks for your contributions to our bridge community, Paul - and for a beautiful essay about your bridge travels and the game itself!

Sharon -

Thank you for recognizing my accomplishment.

You ask me how I have accomplished this milestone, and the answer is very simple. I have been blessed with the opportunity to play with and learn from a variety of fine players which have helped me along the way. These partners include, Jim Hall, Bob Balderson, Jerry Lee, Peg Waller, Peder Langsetmo, Robert Schachter, Peg Kaplan, Carole Miner, & Michael Lee Howland.

While this list appears short I have had the pleasure of playing from at times with many other fine players from this area. While I have learned and grown with each of these partners, I have also been fortunate to team up with a number of fine players from this region, including Bill Kent from Iowa City, Jim Nash from Omaha, and Gard Hayes from the Seattle area.

Let us not forget the wealth of experience I received playing weekly money bridge sessions with the likes of Hugh McLean, Tim Wernz, Kerry Holloway, Dave Clarren, Irv Steinfeldt, to list but a few of my mentors. This list is not complete - but I think you get the idea that this is not an accomplishment I achieved by myself.

It should also be noted that the experience I have received going to National tournaments playing against the best players in the world, played a large part also. And I might also point out this experience continues to feed my thirst for getting better.

For me this is the greatest game in the world. Simply the fact that there is always room for improvement, for myself as well as all other players with varying degrees of experience makes it so!

April 14, 2018

It's that time of year! District 14 players have the opportunity to compete against their peers in our District finals. Winning teams in each flight will then compete against their peers in Atlanta - and earn a subsidy, too!

Saturday, the GNT competition begins. Those who qualify after Saturday will continue their quest on Sunday. (Flight C, however, is a one day competition.)

Friday night offers a Pair/Team event. And Sunday, there is a 2 session Charity Swiss that includes 40% more masterpoints and free lunch!

The weekend provides a marvelous opportunity for people to aim at earning a trip, to practice for the upcoming Gopher Regional and other District 14 regionals - and - to enjoy fine competition against peer teams!

Looking forward to seeing many District 14 teams the weekend of May 4-6! A flyer is below!

Avid bridge players from Minnesota and regions beyond battled wind, rain and snow to attend the Rochester Spring Sectional! With excellent hospitality, a presentation from John Koch and fun events, this was a wise decision by all.

As always, we are grateful to our organizers, volunteers, director and caddies. Co-chairs Linda and Tom Grigoleit performed admirably at their first tournament foray, as did everyone else who contributed.

One of our bridge divas shows her stuff!

And a special nod to Paul Meerschaert, our newest Platinum Life Master! As reported here, Paul and Rob Schacter had a fabulous tournament at the Spring NABC. The oodles of points they won put Paul over the 10,000 masterpoint holding necessary for Platinum!

Congrats to Paul - and - to all our other players who enjoyed this well attended spring regional in Rochester!

April 09, 2018

We are thrilled to note that two of our Minnesota college teams competed in Sunday's second Spring Online Team Tournament - and - won travel packages! Carleton College's Carleton Penguins captured 1st place; University of Minnesota's Gopher The Squeeze team secured 4th place.

We are terrifically proud of you - and - look forward to your competition this summer in Atlanta!

Details from Stephanie at ACBL below!

Congratulations to the winners from yesterday’s second Spring Online Team Tournament! Four more college teams won travel packages to the Bridge Bowl in Atlanta.

Here are the winning teams:

Carleton College – Carleton Penguins

Harvey Mudd College – 5C Bridge Club

GA Tech – GA Tech Gold *

University of Minnesota – Gopher The Squeeze

Northwestern University – Wildcats

*GA Tech won a travel package in March, along with Columbia, Princeton and UC Berkeley, and cannot win another.

I hope everyone had fun playing! You can find a link to results and detailed matches atacbl.org/college. Thank you to our DiC, Jenni Carmichael; our TD, Trisha Malazdrewicz; BBO and all of the coaches and proctors.

We still have two Team Travel Packages to award. Each package is worth up to $6000! You can win through participation in Daily CBO games and friendly matches with other schools. Schools who have already won a travel package can’t win another, but their teams can still play in the dailies and friendly matches!

As a reminder – if your school does not win a travel package, you can still come play in Atlanta and compete for scholarships in the Bridge Bowl. Once we’ve awarded the final two travel packages, we will open up registration for any team who wants to come compete. Remember that this year we will also have the new individual event that awards scholarships as well. Learn more athttp://www.acbl.org/juniors/collegiate-bridgebowl/